Embroidered sampler

Unknown

1691 · Silk on linen · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

This sampler features an upper and lower case alphabet, flowers (pansies, roses, lilies, and tulips), potted fruit trees and buttonhole-stitched edges. The motifs border all four sides and point toward the middle of the work, in which is stitched a floral wreath, typical of German samplers through the nineteenth century. The date on the sampler, 1691, is presumably the year in which the work was completed. It is stitched in such a way that it reads "1691" both upside down and right-side up. The sampler has the square shape, buttonhole stitched edges, and center-facing flower sprig and vase motifs typical of seventeenth-century samplers from Nuremberg, Germany.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1691

Medium

Silk on linen

Culture

German, probably Nuremberg

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

From the Collection of Mrs. Lathrop Colgate Harper, Bequest of Mabel Herbert Harper, 1957